The layers are mounting – pistachio joconde is now soaked with exotic fruit syrup and then topped with 2 exotic mousse/pistachio sponge layers, mango pineapple crémeux layer, an exotic mousse layer then pistachio sponge… (seven layers so far).
Opera cake is in construction. Amused to see the coffee syrup here was made from instant coffee in a jar, whereas I carefully brew many cups of espresso in my best machine with good coffee beans to make up the coffee base. Will be interested to see how this one tastes. It was described as “French tiramisu”….
Dark chocolate mousse now surrounds our two layers of chocolate sponge sandwiched with crunchy hazelnut, raspberry confit and milk chocolate mousse, and it has been given a mirror glaze coating and a sweet pastry disc base. Decorations yet to come.
Carrot cake was baked and layered with mango passionfruit crémeux then creamcheese mousse with a side covering of pressed sablé.
And so the day went on…. Layer this one, freeze it, prepare another mousse, refrigerate it, use another mousse to surround the layers in another smaller finger, freeze that. Interesting stuff, and very useful. Some experimentation is in the offing with quince flavouring when I get back!
Good organizational skills are a requirement of a successful pastry chef, especially with respect to time management. The planning that goes into these classes is pretty impressive, and our current teacher is clearly a master of this (the same chef that managed ten different types of bread simultaneously when we were doing bread week). I suspect really good things could happen if one got him in charge of an ER ….
We were sent home with raspberry, caramel, pistachio, raspberry, chocolate and vanilla éclairs made yesterday.
Decorating and assembling will occupy most of tomorrow and Friday. Stay tuned for the spectacular buffet.